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The cries and the woes of the fans of the Baltimore Ravens could be heard well into the early dawn. The Ravens fought hard, made a decent attempt but, it just wasn't in the cards for them.

We can point fingers, we can cry foul, but truth is that in the 60 minutes of play, we could not pull it together to bring home the win. How can they have such a change in play from one week to the next?

Sure we can say that each opponent is different.

We can point to individual player performances or complain about the coaches calls.

All season the Ravens seem to play like a different team every time they hit the field. They appeared to have a Jekyll and Hyde like syndrome going on this entire season.

However, no one can say that we didn't put our heart and soul into the season. We not only fought our opponents each game¸ we often fought ourselves.

During many games we found our team trying to overcome their own on the field struggles. Every Sunday, fans never knew what to expect. In the end there was no doubt that the Ravens deserved their spot in the playoffs. Our Ravens players, including stars Lewis, Reed, Rice, McGahee, and Gaither gave us a thrilling season. It just didn’t end the way we would have liked.

But it did end on a positive note.

The Ravens were up, then down, but all in all they had a great season. After all we did make it further than most of the teams, including our biggest rival, the Steelers!

Today it’s a new dawn and it’s the beginning of a new season. As for the fans, we can resume our second favorite Sunday past times, we can look forward to the off season drafts, we can take a deep breath and we can relax.

Our team gave us a good run.

It was a football season to remember and one to be proud of.

So over the next few weeks I will sit back, relax and simply watch the post season unfold. I’ll pick my team and root them on. Only this time at the end of the game, win or lose, I’ll be smiling with not a football care in the world.

No ranting or raving from me!

Yep no worries, I‘ve set my sights on the future.

September will bring another season of Baltimore Ravens football and once again all will be right with the world.

The hype over the game is in full swing. Yes, Ravens are the underdog. But if any of the playoff underdog teams are expected to pull it off, The Ravens have the best shot to take it.

I believe we will, because this game against the Indianapolis Colts isn’t just a playoff game this is a game that has a deep sentimental meaning to all Baltimore football fans. They have called us cry babies. Some accuse of us of not being able to put the past behind us and move on.

I beg to differ.

Baltimore has moved on. We are no longer Colts fans.

We are Baltimore Ravens fans.

And Baltimore fans have stepped up and taken the commitment to PURPLE PRIDE proudly. Last night at the local pep rallies, it was more than evident that Baltimore is still a proud football loving town.

As much as we love our Ravens, we will never forget our past, our football heritage or our Baltimore Colts.

There are tons of fans like myself who associate Baltimore Colts memories with a happy childhood. I grew watching Sunday afternoon football. I knew that it meant that dinner would be served at halftime, that the living room furniture would be rearranged to maximize seats in front of the TV. And if it was a home game it meant a babysitter and pizza for dinner.

I remember watching my parents pull on their “stadium coats” and head to Memorial Stadium. I remember going to hometown holiday parades to hear the Colts Marching Band. I remember my entire family, aunts, uncles, cousins all singing the Colts Fight Song.

Colts football was a family affair. Colts football is part of the history of Baltimore just as marble stoops, blue collar workers, row houses, the Star Spangled Banner and steamed crabs.

I have such mixed emotion watching the Colts. Every time I see that white helmet with the horseshoe, my thoughts go to my folks and the joy we shared rooting for that team. I recall my excitement on my 21st birthday when I was taken to my very first Colts football game. That day they became my team and I followed them until they pulled from away from all of us on that Mayflower van.

Losing the team was hard but losing our history is unforgivable. That team, that logo, those past players and all of the memories belong to Baltimore.

Recently former Colt Tom Matte shared his thoughts on Baltimore’s loss of the Colts franchise. Though their trophies and memorabilia are in Indy, he and other former Baltimore Colts players have yet to be embraced by the owner and team. He has never been invited to a game or to visit the team. The Baltimore Colts memorabilia that is in the football Hall of fame is displayed under the name of the Indianapolis Colts.

That’s not who Matte and his teammates played for and that was not the name of our team or their team. We have to give props to our Ravens owners and franchise who have embraced our Baltimore Colts players and made them part of the new Baltimore team!

Tonight, facing Baltimore’s former team’s namesake on their Indy turf and our Baltimore Ravens taking home the win will be a pleasure like no other! It’s not that we couldn’t move on to another team, we have moved on and we love our Ravens. What Baltimore can get passed it that our history, my childhood memories now sit in Indiana.

The Colts started their legacy here in Baltimore and we deserve to have that back.

Don’t mess with the RAVENS Mojo!We all have heard that players have superstitions and pre-game rituals. Even the amateur athletes believe in game karma. My son who played varsity football would not shave his face or cut his hair for the entire football season.

“If I do I’ll bring my team bad luck,” he told me.

His team went on to win county champs and onto the regional semi-finals. By the end of the season, his teammates had given him a new nick name, Wolverine. One year his entire lacrosse team didn’t cut their hair until the won county champs. Then after the season, to show their continued solidarity, they had the coaches completely shave each players head! After last Sunday's victorious purple win, many fans are adopting a pre game ritual for this week’s showdown. I am seriously considering re-enacting my game time actions from last Sunday.

We were running late and jumped into the car at the start of the game. You can imagine our astonishment when within minutes of kick off we heard over the airways calls of touchdowns and awesome plays! When we arrived to our party, near the end of the 1st quarter, we were afraid to stop the car. We didn’t want to break the Ravens mojo! This week, to bring on the same game start, we are thinking of retracing our first quarter drive around the beltway.That is not the craziest superstition I've heard of. Do you remember a few years back when that fan (The Goof on the Roof) sat on the roof of a bar? In the freezing cold?

My little nephew has to eat a sub before every game. Many fans wear the same shirt for every game day.

I met a woman who uses her purple and gold plastic necklaces as Ravens prayer beads!

There are also superstitions like sitting in the same chair, attending the same bar or party, drinking the same drink. We all do these things because we don’t want to jinx our Ravens.

Sounds silly, eh?

Maybe, but if good luck mojo, karma, or whatever you want to call, gets us through to the next game, I say start rubbing those beads, shave your beards and jump into your car.

The 12th man spirit is needed in Indy this Saturday! Let’s bring home a win boys!

Come on Sunday! How great is it that after such a crazy up and down season, we are still on this rollercoaster ride to the Championship?

Fans are drowning in purple pride! Throughout Baltimore and all through Maryland the parties for this Sunday’s game will be huge. Thankfully on this coming game day fans will not be tailgating out in the cold morning air (unless you are lucky enough to be in New England). No this Sunday we will be pre gaming it in the midst of warmth and soft seating. Playoff season turns the M&T lot tailgate gathering into Raven House Party! With that change of venue there come lots of additions and upgrades.

The standard parking lot fare of hot dogs, burgers, and chili is replaced with a more bountiful fare of more gourmet treats. Our Sunday menu will include baked Salmon, chicken fajita soup, pork tenderloin sandwiches and seafood pizza. You see at a Raven House Party there is usually not just the typical tailgate "host", there is also the house party HOSTESS!

Yes Chix show up for football when the party is at someone’s house equipped with indoor plumbing. It’s the best of all worlds. At a fan’s house you have warmth, great food, friendship, football and when it’s game time there are rooms to separate the genders!

My Raven maniac group usually ends up in the home of friends who have a spacious and well appointed lounge area, game room, and bar. Their place holds 20 nicely, has a big screen TV, several bar TVs, pizza oven, pool table, and beer refrigeration. It’s no wonder my friends don’t tailgate!

They have the perfect set up within their own home. Our hostesses will be sure that the décor is themed to suit the celebration, everything in Raven purple and black. Yes it is nice to root for our boys from the comforts of a party central home that comes with wonderful friends, delectable foods and glass goblets to drink my wine!

Sunday’s game will be a tough one. It will be another test of our ability to play a solid game and go against some tough odds. We will need to stand up to the naysayers, prove that we can play without penalties and execute our game plan.

Win or lose I am proud of my team, the Ravens. This season has been a rocky road for them and for us fans. Nonetheless it has been an exciting season, one that has kept us wanting one more game.

We may not be favored to win the rest of the post season but I delight in the fact that Pittsburgh is home watching the Ravens continue the hunt!

Today is our final regular season game! Baltimore is ready for a big win! I am going out of my comfort zone of blogging about off the field Ravens Chix chatter. I want to address our rollercoaster playing; the season and the fan chatter that has followed it.

At the beginning of the season, no one was sure what to expect from the team. We knew we had lost some key veteran players, paid dearly for others, had plenty of young talent and acquired some fresh undeveloped players. No one was sure where we were heading.

Once the season began, we hit the field and exploded!

Other hopes of having a good season turned to thoughts to having a great season. Then things went awry. The Monday morning quarterbacking pointed fingers at everyone and everything from poor performance from veterans, rookies, and coaches to poor officiating. We have zig-zagged our way through the rest of the season. The last blow was last week’s horrible loss to our arch rivals. A game that, like several previous contests, we should have had in the bag.

Enough has been said about who, what, and why we are having this crazy rollercoaster season. I take it all in. No one can really pinpoint why, all the speculation sounds plausible. The coaches and team will continue to pound it out and eventually they will make it work.

It’s football, it is a profession and a very lucrative one at that.

No one plays to lose, no one chooses to miss a block or drop a catch.

The coaches and players work very hard to prepare and plan a well-executed game. Yet sometimes the other team wins. Thank goodness, it is a long season because every game is a new beginning. Every Sunday from September until the beginning of February players, coaches, and fans get pumped and excited. They each prepare to do what they each do best.

Today is the last game of the regular season and I will do what every Ravens fan does – put the past wins and losses behind, forget all the ranting of the week before and put my heart and soul into cheering our Ravens!

It is PLAYOFF TIME and we are still in the hunt!

Yes, it’s been a tough season for us, but from where we are sitting, it’s been a lot tougher season for many other teams!

Ola Chix! I hope that Santa treated you well. Now that the presents are unwrapped, holiday meals done we can now turn our attention to Sunday 1'oclock game time. We need to get our Ravens and our fans pumped for the biggest game of the season. After last week’s game time bitter cold weather and the chilling rain the week before, I am glad to be sitting in front of a TV from a warm location.

Over the course of the home game season I roamed the parking lots and stadium taking tons pictures of Ravens Chix. By the end of the season it became harder and harder to find female fans. As the game time temperature and weather continued to drop throughout the season so do the number of Ravens Chix at the stadium. By the time of the final home game only a handful of female fans stood in the freezing stadium to cheer on our Ravens players.

Some of my girlfriends make it perfectly clear at the beginning of every season that they will only attend games until a certain time of the year. When the weather turns cold they pass on their tickets to family and friends. Usually the ticket goes to a male child or friend of the husband. Though I am not bashing my girls who like to stay warm and choose to pass up a home game, I am not that kinda fan.

As much as I’d rather head to M&T on a cool fall day, I know that being a fan means taking in the elements no matter what the heavens bring. When the weather turns cold and nasty I feel all the more committed to getting out there and rooting for my team. The team and the fans feed off the energy of being out in the bitter cold. Staying focused on the task at hand, winning, becomes all the more important when you are bundled up in six layers of clothing and still freezing.

Growing up I was taught that football and cold weather go together. My Dad and Mom passed on the art of preparing for the end of season games. In December they would head to Memorial stadium wearing their “stadium coats” and toting red fiber filled “hot seats”. My mom, who was the original Ravens Chic, taught me to keep all my fan gear, hats, scarves, foam fingers, hand warmers etc., in a box and have it handy throughout the season. You don’t want to be running around on game day looking for your favorite Ravens beanie.

Yes cold weather and football go together like popcorn and a movie.

I am a fan in all kinds of weather. I will always get myself pumped for the end of season games and prepare for the brutal elements. But today, I look forward to the glow of the warm cozy fire, wrapping myself in my Ravens purple Slanket, and watching our Ravens on my big screen TV!